This invention relates to an automated system for use in making medical diagnoses. More particularly, this invention relates to an automated endoscopic system for providing assistance to an endoscopist in making diagnostic determinations and, more specifically, in identifying such internal organic objects as polyps.
In making an endoscopic examination, a doctor or other user inserts an endoscope into a patient while viewing images internal organic structures at the distal end of the endoscope insertion member. The images may be presented via an eyepiece or on a video monitor. In any event, it is not unusual for small polyps and other organic objects of interest to be missed by the endoscopist during the endoscopic examination. Frequently, a small polyp is partially obscured by another polyp or another internal structure. In addition, on occasion the passage of the endoscope insertion member through an intestine may be inadvertantly too quick for a complete and thorough examination of the intestinal wall. Moreover, an inexperienced endoscopist may somtimes overlook a structural iregularity which a more experienced observer would not fail to notice.
The dangers of overlooking a polyp during an endoscopic examination are clear. A small polyp which is missed may be malignant whereas a larger polyp, which is observed, may be benign.